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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29126433">will you fall or will you stand tall?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JedimasterMegan/pseuds/JedimasterMegan'>JedimasterMegan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Storytelling, kind of, that's the vibe anyways</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:00:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,393</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29126433</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JedimasterMegan/pseuds/JedimasterMegan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, our story begins with a man. This man is not the main character of our story, no, he is simply a pawn in a large scale game, with an even larger role to play. The role is this: the man travels to a world that is not a world, but an ocean— a planet of stormy seas and endless, unrelenting rain— and gives a piece of himself to the pale beings who reside there. They take that piece and mold it, change it, shape it with the coldest indifference until hundreds, thousands, millions of copies of the man are created. Endless rows of siblings with numbers instead of names.</p>
<p>And the one sibling whose name was a number.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo &amp; CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>will you fall or will you stand tall?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/interstellartreasure/gifts">interstellartreasure</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A gift for interstellartreasure! (@cisphobicfives on tumblr!) I had a lot of fun writing this one &lt;3</p>
<p>Also they/them is used for Fives in this :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>So. You want me to tell you a story.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The story I have to tell is not a nice one. It is filled with heartbreak and sorrow, chances never given and opportunities never taken. Do you still wish to hear it?</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Very well. But do not say I did not warn you.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away– </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What? Of course we must start this way. All of the best stories do.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, our story begins with a man. This man is not the main character of our story, no, he is simply a pawn in a large scale game, with an even larger role to play. The role is this: the man travels to a world that is not a world, but an ocean— a planet of stormy seas and endless, unrelenting rain— and gives a piece of himself to the pale beings who reside there. They take that piece and mold it, change it, shape it with the coldest indifference until hundreds, thousands, millions of copies of the man are created. Endless rows of siblings with numbers instead of names.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And the one sibling whose name was a number.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They are not the first to have chosen such a thing for themselves, nor will they be the last, but it's what they have chosen all the same. That is all that matters in the end.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They are brought into the world alongside four others, siblings of the closest kind. A set of dominoes. Destined to fall, one by one. But like any set of dominoes oh-so-carefully arranged, their fall will be spectacular, in the way that only precious things come to an end ever are.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The first one dies at the hands of the enemies of his namesake. The second, snatched from the living. The third has the honor of choosing his death, a sacrifice to save those he will leave behind. He falls to smoke and flame, ash and twisted metal, and he does so willingly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There are no graves. There are no memorials detailing all they had done, all they had given. There is nothing left of them except a few scattered pieces of a once precious life on a far-flung moon, and the cherished memories of those who live on.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What was five is now but two. The sibling whose name was a number and the leading echo.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Two are saved, but all dominoes must one day fall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For now, they do not worry. For now, they are welcomed into the open arms of siblings wearing the deepest blue and leaders with quick tongues and no fear. They are together. They are safe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This will not last.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Those who hold the power in the galaxy call for them, and they are beholden to answer. They are called back to the pale beings, back to the world that is not a world, but an ocean, to the home that was never a home, but is theirs all the same.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They stand in defense. They stand in love. They stand in the name of all those that were, all those that are, and all those that have yet to be. And they win.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For this, they are given a reward of the highest prestige. They become stronger, faster, smarter. They walk away greater than they were before, with the words of those who taught them swirling in their heads.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"With this, you will have a better chance."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"With this, you could live to fight another day."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"With this, you may see the end of the war."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They are sweet lies, but lies all the same.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sibling whose name was a number and the leading echo are called again, and again they answer. This time, to a world with rivers not of water, but of fire— a planet where all that holds importance are those who can be found there— and harm and peril follow them every step of the way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The leading echo has always been one to think first and act later, but now he acts first and is left with no time to think later. He makes a move. It is the wrong one to make.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The leading echo falls for those said to have more value than he. It is a sacrifice that, ultimately, means nothing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A single domino is left standing, defiant, resolute, alone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sibling whose name was a number is left alone. So they do the only thing they can. They fight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They fight and they fight and they fight some more and when they have no more fight left in them to give, they keep on fighting because that is all they have. That is all they know how to do.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They are called once again, and, once again, they answer. They join their siblings wearing the deepest blue on a world of darkness and shadow— a planet that reeks of paralyzing horror and the sting of betrayal— and their worst nightmares are brought to life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It is brutal. It is painful. It is war. And war is not kind to good people, especially to those who do not deserve it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The siblings wearing the deepest blue return from the world of nightmares, but they are never the same. They return, but they are still not safe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There are dangers hidden in the dark corners of the galaxy, and the sibling whose name was a number, defiant, resolute, alone, has never been one to back down from a challenge. For the pale beings have spun a magnificent web of lies and secrets, masterfully woven and carefully concealed. The sibling whose name was a number starts to discover, unravel, reveal those threads, one by one.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The pale beings do not take to this kindly this threat. So the sibling whose name was a number does the only thing they can. They run.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They run and they run and they run some more and just when you think they are out of places to run, they find a way to keep on running.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They run right into the arms of their brother wearing the deepest blue and the leader with no fear. Only one of them listens.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It is a trap. The sibling whose name was a number wishes to unveil the truth, and they are silenced. The last domino falls in the arms of their brother wearing the deepest blue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They do not die a martyr. They are forgotten by all but two, and their message never reaches the hundreds, thousands, millions to whom it was intended. The light fades as the sun sets on the galaxy, and a long-lasting night begins.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Why do you weep? I told you this story would not have a happy ending. It simply could not be so.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alright.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Perhaps, for a moment, we can pretend it goes like this:</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sibling whose name is a number is never forgotten. They do not die. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sun does not set on the galaxy. The light begins to grow brighter and brighter until it is the brightest it has been in so very long that many had forgot it could be this bright at all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sibling whose name is a number uncovers the secrets hidden in the galaxy, and the others listen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Change does not happen overnight, but it happens all the same. Little by little, bits and pieces, here and there, until hundreds, thousands, millions are saved. Endless rows of siblings with numbers for names no longer have numbers, simply names. They gain lives. They gain homes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And the sibling whose name is a number gains one more thing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The leading echo is changed, but he is living. That is all that matters.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They meet again. Perhaps they say something like "you're here" and "I've finally found you" and "you won't lose me again." It is not our place to know the specifics. The words themselves do not matter, only who is saying them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sibling whose name is a number and the living echo, two halves of a whole, dominoes who against all odds refused to fall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They are together. They are safe. This time it will last.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They no longer live to fight another day. They live because they want to, because they can.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And what a glorious life it is.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm @its-captain-sir on tumblr if you want to say hi!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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